Page 3 of Come Sail Away
“It will take them about an hour to get here,” he said as he tried not to notice some of the little things about her that were different. Her nails were manicured—not fancy, but neat with a coat of pale-pink polish. And her toes matched. He didn’t think Harper cared about those kinds of things. Her nose was forever buried in books when they’d been in high school. Except when she’d used a book to hit him over the head once. He grinned. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember what he’d said to aggravate her.
“If they’re on their way, you don’t have to wait. I hate to keep you from your sailing,” she said without much conviction.
“My momma raised me to lend a hand to a lady in distress,” he teased. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
* * *
Harper downed a quarter of her water in one gulp to keep from saying anything stupid, like that she wasn’t in distress…yet. She had food and water and shelter, and she was pretty certain Max would have sent the cavalry looking for her when he realized she was missing. Plus, she could see land, which meant help wasn’t that far away. And she knewallthat was ridiculous. There was just something about Sully McGlamery that brought out the instinct to defy him. It wasn’t rational; it was just there.
“Then I’m thankful to your momma. And to you,” she said, looking into his deep-blue eyes, which were lined with thick, long lashes. Lashes too pretty to belong to a man.
He gave a tight nod. “No problem.”
If the universe demanded that someone be her hero today, why did it have to be him?Anyonebut him would’ve sufficed. She groaned inwardly.
In high school, she’d had a love-hate thing when it came to him. He was handsome and popular. All the girls made eyes at him. And what did she do? She’d whacked him over the head with a book! Granted, he deserved it for embarrassing her in front of the entire class, but still.
But she wasn’t the same person now, she reminded herself. She’d put that episode—and that time of her life—behind her.
“So what have you been up to?” he asked, then downed a long swig of his water.
Her gaze took in the play of his jaw and the way his throat worked as he swallowed. She shifted in her seat a little. “Well, I live in Baja California, Mexico.”
“Really? That sounds exotic.”
“I’m a medical-research scientist.”
“Oh.”
She didn’t miss the lift of his brow, but he followed up quickly with, “I’m not surprised. In what specialty?”
“Genetic, genomics, and bioinformatics.”
“Where’d you study?”
“Harvard. In the end I’m not sure it was the best choice, but at the time it was ranked the highest in my specialty.”
He nodded. “How do you like living in Baja?”
“I love it. I live near the Rosarito area. It’s beautiful there. On the weekends some friends and I like to go parasailing along the Pacific cliffs. Then we lunch at a local restaurant,Carne AsadaRestaurante. Absolutely yummy food! On calm days, we go boating. There’s always something to do.”
He angled his head back and glanced at her through narrowed eyes. “Parasailing? Really?”
She laughed. “You didn’t know I had an adventurous streak, did you?”
“No. Sounds like a great place to live, though. I’ve never thought of living outside the States. Why Mexico?”
“Baja isn’t far from the border. I chose that company due to the research they do and their regulations are more appealing than in the United States. My team and I recently developed a procedure that shows definite promise in curing MS.”
“That’s fantastic. I always thought you’d make some kind of contribution to the world.”
“Hmm, I never—” The sound of a motorboat approaching had them both turning to look. She was about to say she’d never figured he’d given her a second thought.
Probably for the best.
They both stood as the towing service pulled up alongside theSundancer.
A strong breeze had developed and the waves kicked up into rolling swells. Harper lost her balance, stumbling, and Sully caught her against his chest. She quickly pulled back, forcing her feet to stand still. She cleared her throat and tilted her head toward the motorboat.
